


We Can Be Elastic

by NotRoyalty



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Drabble, Fluff and Angst, Gen, M/M, a little hurt/comfort, vaguely pre 3b
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-16
Updated: 2014-01-16
Packaged: 2018-01-08 22:20:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1138071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotRoyalty/pseuds/NotRoyalty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek watches Stiles pick up the pieces after a fight with a witch and wonders how he does it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Can Be Elastic

Derek’s eyes fixated on Stiles where they had inexplicably drifted an undetermined amount of time before. He was clearing up the tornado of mess that his frenzied research into what kind of supernatural horror was terrorizing them this time had caused. What amazed him about the boy wasn’t the fact that he was cleaning something up (Derek had seen his room), but that he was doing it as if there hadn’t just been an epically violent battle for their lives (again).  
     “Have you seen my phone?” he asked obliviously shaking a book to see if it would fall out.  
     “It’s on couch,” Derek replied, tearing his eyes away before Stiles noticed him staring. There had been enough emotional upheaval when Isaac was rushed to Deaton with wolfsbane spidering up from his arm.  
     “I knew that,” Stiles said, sliding over to one of the few pieces of furniture in Derek’s loft.  
     Derek was just about to turn away when he noticed the flinch and hitch in heart rate. “Stiles?” he questioned as the boy straitened.  
     “It’s nothing,” he shrugged. “Some of us can shrug off being throw into a wall by a witch as easily as you.”  
     Ignoring his excuses, Derek pushed his hands out of the way and lifted the edge of his shirt. The skin underneath was quickly purpling into a massive bruise.  
     “Dude,” Stiles said, peering down at it himself. “That’s massive.”  
     Shaking his head, Derek poked at the bruising. “It’s not broken,” he concluded, ignoring Stile’s yelps of protest.  
     “Like I said,” Stiles said, yanking his shirt back down and returning to the mess, “I’ll be fine. I’m not the one whose arm was broken,” he glared at Derek accusingly.  
     “It’s fine,” Derek scowled. Why did Stiles insist on worrying about him when he wasn’t the one who would be suffering through days of a massive bruise?  
     “You always say that,” Stiles mumbled, sticking a pencil in his mouth as he stacked up more books.  
     Derek picked up one of the couch cushions from the floor and shoved it back in its place. He was beginning to wonder how long this apartment would last if they kept having battles in it. How long would any of them last?  
     Somehow, Derek found himself staring at Stiles who was still doggedly picking up the pieces. But this time, Derek didn’t look away when Stiles noticed him.  
     “What?” he asked after turning around to make sure it was indeed him that Derek was fixated on.  
     “How do you do it?” Derek found himself asking.  
     “Do what?” he blinked obliviously.  
     “Just keep springing back,” Derek scowled in confusion.  
     “Says the guy who is perfectly fine thirty minutes after his arm is bent backwards.”  
     Derek shook his head and turned away. He knew he shouldn’t have spoken in the first place.  
     “You OK man?” Stiles asked, voice quiet in the silence.  
     “I’m fine,” Derek repeated.  
     Stiles kept staring at him.  
     “How do you do it?” Derek broke down finally. “Isaac almost died tonight, and you’re just… cleaning. Every time you get back to your life. It’s like you’re made of elastic.”  
     Stiles blinked, frowned, and took the pencil out of his mouth. “I dunno,” he said. “I just sort of…” he shrugged. “It’ll be fine, man.”  
     Derek stared at Stiles, unable to fathom how he could do it. Derek may be the alpha, but Stiles was the one who always got everyones lives back to normal by just being his neurotic self.  
     Part of Derek thought that if he watched Stiles for long enough, he could learn to be that elastic.


End file.
